Maps are visual art that communicates information to give us a sense of place. We read maps and we read books. And, in my opinion, books containing maps are the best kind of books. I’ve shared many maps this past month for the A to Z April Blog Challenge and I could easily go on for another month. Today I’m being very visual (as opposed to wordy) because the maps tell so much about the world contained in each book. There are many opinions of what makes a book considered vintage. I’m just thinking that they are old but not antiques. Let me know what you think.
The Young Australian Alphabet by Samuel and William Calvert 1871 (this one might be considered an antique)
The Land of Health by Hallock and Winslow 1922
Milly Molly Mandy series by Joyce Lankester Brisley 1928
A Squirrel Called Rufus by Richard Church (author) and John Skeaping (illustrator) 1941
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Gouge (author) and C. Walter Hodges (illustrator) 1946 (Carnegie Award Winner)
The Bamboo Bird by Melvin Colley 1947
The Children’s Book of London by L. G. Bullock 1948
Toby Twirl Adventures by Sheila Hodgetts (author) and E. Jeffrey (illustrator) 1949
The Blue Cat of Castle Town by Catherine Cate Coblentz 1949 (Newbery Honor Book 1950, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award 1958)
And finally, a book I would really like to own –
The Map That Came to Life by Geoffrey Cumberlege (author) and Ronald Lampit (illustrator) Oxford University Press 1948
Tells about a brother and sister who spend the summer at their uncle’s farm. They decide to walk to the country fair with a survey map as their guide. Their outing is really the setting for a lesson in map reading.
Have you read any of these books?
Super interesting!
Thanks Amy!
Not sure what time zone you’re set to, but posted at 6:25 pm 4/25/18!
I’m not sure – I’ll have to find out!
I would like to read the last one, too. I’m amazed about how difficult is nowadays for some people to use a real map (a paper one).
I have collected many things through the years including the illustrators of children’s books but never the books you have introduced me to that include MAPS. You have launched me in a new direction and I have NO space in “The Cottage for Two,” now one….for more books. I must find a way. This post is amazing again.
The Land of Health map is fascinating. Love the idea of a Garden of Sleep.
Hi Claire – no sadly I haven’t read any … but I’d love to own the London one, and the Australian one … but to see them all … lovely – thanks for letting us know about them – cheers Hilary
Beautiful maps – love the blue one!
Absolutely fantastic!
Just made me recollect a trip we took with my very young family…..My youngest was 4 years old and asked me if we had the map. I told her no (we knew our way). She wailed for around 10 minutes on how we “Didn’t have a map??”lol Fast forward, age 23, she finds her way just fine 🙂
Love the old books with maps. Always makes them interesting in my opinion.
I remember when we would never go anywhere without consulting a map. I still like to look at them to get an overview of where we are going.
Thanks for stopping by.
Beautiful maps. Thanks for sharing.
Ronel from Ronel the Mythmaker A-Z road-tripping with Everything Writerly: V is for Vendors
Wow these are really awesome! I love books with maps, especially fantasy novels. I’m actually trying to write one, but my own map is giving me trouble… perhaps I should take a page out of some of these books and not worry so much about making it perfect, rather make it pretty instead! 🙂 Stopped by on the #AtoZChallenge Road Trip, take care!
Jamie Lyn Weigt | Writing Dragons | AtoZ 2018: X is for Xiang the Wise
There are actually a number of books which help authors create maps for their fictional worlds. I think maps make books better.
I have not read any of these books. However, I love books with maps. As an adult reader, most of the books I read now with maps are fantasy books. Maps always draw me into the story. As I read, I pretty consistently will refer back to them too. Great post. Stopping by on the #AtoZ Road Trip. Take care!